I'm an amateur photographer/artist in Northern California. My latest post is of photographs taken of winter shorebirds at Arrowhead Marsh in my hometown of Oakland. Below that find images from the Galápagos Islands, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, New Mexico, a series of polar bear images I took near Churchill, Manitoba, and other posts.

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Saturday, May 12, 2012

Images from the Galápagos Islands

Some birds were harder to photograph than others!

Dramatic. Beautiful. Unusual. Raw. Unique. Pristine. Isolated. Each of these words holds meaning when you visit theGalápagosarchipelago. There are more than 50 volcanic islands scattered over 4,500 square kilometers on the equator. You are about 1,000 kilometers off of the coast of Ecuador. We had the rare opportunity to visit theGalápagos Islands from April 22 to 29 on a Road Scholar educational program. These islands are a well-protected National Park of Ecuador, with all visitors required to be with a trained naturalist and no one allowed on land between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.. We lived on a 118-foot yacht with about 30 other people. Twice each day we would board a dinghy to take us ashore with our naturalist guides for hiking, animal observation, swimming and snorkeling. The isolation of theGalápagos, as Charles Darwin observed in his famous visit, has permitted life forms to evolve into species found only here. Words are hard to find to describe my experience of this. So I will just let some of my photographs tell the story.

TO VIEW ANY IMAGE LARGER, JUST CLICK ON IT.All Images Below Copyright by Tom Debley, 2012

All Rights Reserved

GalápagosWhimbrel photographed at a small
lagoon on Isla Floreana.

Galápagos SeaLion pup onthe beach at

Gardner Bay,

Isla Española.

A juvenile Galápagos Hawk

came within a few feet,

as curious about us as

we were of him at the

top of a volcanic cinder

cone on Isla Bartolome.

The Lava Heron is a

uniqueGalápagos

species that made

for an interesting

photograph in flight

on Isla Santiago.

Tortoises, of course,

are synonymous with

theGalápagosIslands.

These images were

captured at different

locales on Isla Santa Cruz.

No set of images would be complete without the Blue-footed Booby, such as this one I photographed on Isla Española.

This Booby is taking off from Isla San Cristobal.

Another of the Boobies
in theGalápagosIslands
is the Nazca Booby,
one seen here perched on
a rock on Isla Española.

A "nursery" of
Nazca Booby chicks
was another thrilling
sight, offering an

chance to see them
from only a few feet
away and for
photographs like this one.

One of the most colorful of all of the critters

in theGalápagosis the Sally Lightfoot Crab.

One of these was among the specimens

collected by Darwin.

Yellow Flycatcher

Smaller birds are plentiful, among them theGalápagosMocking Bird, which had the greatest influence on Darwin’s theory of
evolution. It was the first species he noticed that had distinct differences from island to
island.

Yellow Warbler

Ground Finch

Ground Finch Perched in a Tree

GalápagosMocking Bird

Waved Albatross in Flight

The Waved Albatross, a medium sized albatross with a wing span of seven feet, is among the largest birds we saw. They breed primarily on Isla Española in the Galápagosarchipelago. We were there for mating season.

Waved Albatross Courting Ritual

Waved Albatross Pair Mating

Waved Albatross on Her Egg

A final set of photographs for now is of the every popular Iguanas -- Land, Sea, Lava and Arbor -- found in the tropics of theGalápagos and on the Ecuadorian mainland.

(Special Note: The photograph of me at the top of this blog post was taken by one of our Road Scholar group, Linda Getman. Thanks, Linda!)

About Me

I am an amateur photographer, and immediate past president of both the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs and of the Alameda Photographic Society. I am an Honorary Fellow of the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs. I have received photographic honors from the: Alameda Photographic Society, California Newspaper Publishers Association, Marin County Fair, Northern California Council of Camera Clubs and Photographer’s Forum.
My work has been shown in various venues, including the: Alameda Photographic Society, Commonwealth Club of California, Marin County Fair, and University of Maine Museum of Art.